OVERVIEW
Get ready to enter Uniting Through History’s second annual virtual Hip History Scholarship Contest! Students participating in the Hip History Contest will bring the early 20th century town of Buxton, Iowa alive through the arts. Buxton was a coal mining town established in 1900 where Blacks and whites were treated equally and Black Americans were leaders in the community.
Middle school and high school students (13 years and older) will submit their creative and educational interpretations of an excerpt from Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa. Entries, which must be in the form of a video, must be original work created by the student. Examples include a song, poem, art piece, dance routine, monologue, story, a scene—whatever the student can come up with. While talent is a plus, creativity is much more important.
Entries will be narrowed down to finalists by Uniting Through History team members. A panel of successful professional judges will then vote for the top three winners in the middle school and high school categories.
Check out the complete details below!
MIDDLE SCHOOL
1st Place $2,000
2nd Place: $500
3rd Place: $250
HIGH SCHOOL
1st Place: $2,0002nd Place: $500
3rd Place: $250
WINNERS’ SCHOOL
The winners’ schools will win a matching prize!
PLUS: First Place winners get a 30-minute Zoom call with the contest judge of their choice! All winners must open a College Savings 529 Plan for prize check deposits.
The Hip History Scholarship Contest is funded in part by a grant from the Legacy Foundation, which partners to improve the health, education, and vitality of the City of Ottumwa and Wapello County.
STEPS TO ENTER
Before you begin creating your video, there are a few things you need to do first:
- Read the excerpt from Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa to pick three or more concepts you’d like to explore.
- Learn about Buxton.
- Conduct additional research, if desired.
After reading the excerpt, learning about Buxton, and conducting any other research needed:
- Determine what you want to create for your video.
- Create your video, making sure your idea successfully meets the judging criteria and is formatted correctly.
You’re all done and ready to enter—but before you do, complete these steps to make sure your entry will be accepted:
- Use our handy checklist to make sure your entry is truly ready.
- Use the official entry form to enter.
- Tell a parent or guardian to read and agree to the rules and submit your entry.
ELIGIBILITY
The Hip History Contest is open middle school and high school students (13 years and older). Students must be in middle school and high school and be 13 years and older at the time of entry and for the duration of the contest. If the contest is extended into the summer, for the purposes of this contest, the student will be deemed to be in the same grade or the same age they were upon entry.
TIMELINE
| February 1, 2022 | Contest officially begins. Rules and contest details are available. |
| February 16, 2022— May 16, 2022 | Entries are accepted via the entry form. |
| May 17, 2022— June 1, 2022 | Uniting Through History team members select finalists and Judges select winners. |
| June 2, 2022— June 30, 2022 | Winners are notified via phone and email. First place winners are interviewed. |
| July 1, 2022 | Contest ends. Winners names and videos posted. First place winner interviews are posted. |
JUDGING CRITERIA
The following criteria (and their associated weights) will be used by Uniting Through History in judging entries:
- CREATIVITY (25%): Did you share the history of Buxton in a unique and interesting way?
- RELEVANCE (25%): Did you share why racial equality and equity are important and/or what we can learn from Buxton today?
- INCLUSIVITY (30%): Did you include the experiences of Black Americans in Buxton? Did you show the contributions made by Black Americans and how they made a difference in Buxton?
- INSPIRATIONAL (20%): Does your video inspire people to want to learn more or take action after watching?
There is no judging criteria for following submission instructions. Videos that do not meet the basic requirements of beginning with the correct video introduction, followed by the required beginning paragraphs from the excerpt, and then incorporating at least three (3) facts from the excerpt will not be accepted. Nor will entries with excessive grammatical errors. See FAQS for details.
Judging Process
Entries will be accepted until the stated deadline. At this point, there is no judging. The only way an entry would not be accepted is if one or more rules were not followed.
If the reason the entry was not accepted was minor and/or easily correctable, we will attempt to let the entrant know so they can fix the problem and resubmit the entry, if desired. Under no circumstances will we provide feedback on content.
Two weeks prior to winner selection by the contest judges, Uniting Through History team members will select the top three or more entries in the middle school and high school categories. The contest judges will then select the winners.